Yeah, We Have a COI Policy. No! Absolutely Not! We Can't Let People See It.... Don't Be Silly!

Last year Penn State refused to participate in an evaluation of conflict of interest policies at medical centers conducted by the American Medical Student Association. That earned Penn State a grade of an F on the rankings. Penn State participated this year and earned a B. That's pretty good. It's still not as good as University of Pittsburgh Medical Center or the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine each of which earned one of only 9 A's out of 150 ranked medical centers, but it's much better than the D which Temple University School of Medicine received.

Oddly, the Penn State Propaganda Portal hasn't seen fit to mention this just yet. Last year it was understandable that they didn't broadcast their failure. But a B is respectable, you'd think they'd spin this for all it's worth. Perhaps, they don't want to draw attention to fact that they are still in the shadow of Penn and Pitt or maybe the folks in Old Main are too preoccupied by the budget maneuvering in Harrisburg to be bothered with this. Who knows?

One final thing, which won't be a surprise to anyone who knows how Old Main operates, Penn State would not allow their conflict of interest policies to be published or quoted from by AMSA. It looks more and more like Graham and Dick Cheney are soulmates.

Technorati Tags: American Medical Student Association, conflict of interest, Penn State, Hershey Medical Center, UPMC, Penn Medical School

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Pleasing Your Sugar Daddy

As a follow-up to my posts about about Penn State nutritionist Penny Kris-Etherton and the University pimping the health benefits of chocolate, I want to point out a paper which found that industry funded nutrition research tends be biased in favor of the funding industry. Big surprise.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, conflict of interest, Kris-Etherton, Hershey's Chocolate,

Thank-You Hershey

Let's take yet another look at Penn State's propaganda efforts on behalf of Hershey.

The Research/Penn State article which inspired my first post on this topic opens up with the following,

For serious chocoholics, the best health-related news in the past decade had to be that dark chocolate is good for you.A recent Yale study concluded that eating dark chocolate can mean better cardiovascular health, with short-term improvements in blood pressure and arterial function.

I wonder if they meant this Yale study.

The Hershey Company is sweet on research it funded at Yale that concludes eating dark chocolate can result in short-term improvements in arterial function and blood pressure. The report released today is also likely to catch the eye of many senior citizens – always alert to cardiovascular benefits.

I guess since the primary purpose of Penn State under Graham is the economic development of the Commonwealth there's no problem in using the University's name and reputation,whatever that's worth, in surreptitiously helping a Pennsylvania company sell it wares. After all, scientific integrity is such a quaint outmoded concept.

But at Yale, things are still done the old fashion way. Researchers acknowledge any funding that may call into question the independence of their scientist. Look at the second slide in this ppt.

Technorati Tags: Hershey, Kris-Etherton, conflict of interest, Penn State

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It's a Family Thing

It looks like corporate pimping is a family thing for Penny Kris-Etherton. Earlier today I discussed her work on behalf of Hershey chocolate. It turns out that she's married to Terry Etherton, a Distinguished Professor of Animal Nutrition and Head of the Department of Dairy and Animal Science at Penn State. While Penny pimps chocolate after taking research funding from Hershey, Terry pimps r-BST, an artificial growth hormone given to dairy cows to increase their milk output, after having taken research funding and travel money from the growth hormone's proveyer Monsanto.

There are people that are concerned about the potential health risks that r-BST has on humans. I've looked at the evedence for those risks and found it lacking. On the other hand, I've also found some of Etherton's argument in favor of r-BST to be a little too slick. My point here isn't whether r-BST is safe or not. My point is that his neutrality is put into doubt by his acceptence of money from Monsanto.

Scientists, who should be neutral abitrators of the truth, are compromised by corporate research money. This is a sad consequence of the new primacy of economic development over the prusuit of knowledge which has taken hold at Penn State and other universities around the country.

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Something's Rank

Top 100 wow that's impressive. But, top 100 what? Hottest Nurses?

With an uninformative headline like that you gotta figure that the folks in the Old Main propaganda shop are up to something. And you'd be right. This has nothing to do with the quality of care at Hershey. Nope, Hershey made the list of Top 100 hospitals on the "Community Value Index" which is put out by Cleverley + Associates, an obscure Ohio medical billing consulting firm. The consulting firm claims that the index is a measure of the financial soundness of hospitals. Well, I guess that's something.

By the way, Cleavery + Associates promotes this index as a way to sell copies of their State of the Hospital Industry Report.

To order your copy of State of the Hospital Industry - 2008 Edition, please choose if you would like an invoice for $179 per copy shipped along with your book(s), or if you would like to use our secure form to process your order now.

Do you think Hershey's ordered a few copies to encourage a similar ranking next year?

The funny thing is that when Hershey broke into the US News and World Report hospital rankings in a single category at thirty-out-of-thirty the Penn State Propaganda Portal didn't think that it was worth mentioning that Penn State was severely outperformed by both Penn and Pitt. But this time, how the other teaching hospitals in Pennsylvania fared on the ranking is deemed worth of a mention.

Penn State Hershey Medical Center is one of only seven hospitals in Pennsylvania chosen for Cleverley + Associates' Community Value Index (CVI) Top 100 list and is the only "high intensity teaching hospital" from the Commonwealth to earn the distinction.

Take that Pitt and Penn. You may have better doctors and better conflict of interest rules, but out accountants whooped your accountants' asses.

Technorati Tags: Hershey Medical Center, Penn State, Cleverley + Associates

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Go Away, Go Away.... Don't Bother Me!

Last Friday, Old Main couldn't hold back. It had to tell the world that it was very proud to even be mentioned in this year's ranking of Children's Hospitals by US News and World Report. Today brings another medical ranking and so far the Penn State Propaganda Portal hasn't seen fit to mention it.

The American Medical Student Association ranked medical centers on their conflict of interest policies with regard to drug companies. Each medical center was assigned a letter grade. Penn State earned itself an F. On the other hand, UPMC and Penn each received one of the seven A's which were given to the 150 medical centers that were graded.

Penn State received an F because it refused to participate in the ranking. Now, it's possible that the policy at Penn State is just as good or even better than those at Pitt or Penn, but Old Main decided to keep a bushel over its light..... Yeah, right.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Hershy Medical School, rankings, conflict of interest, AMSA, drug companies

We're Number Thirty, We're Number Thirty,We're Number Thirty,......

US News and World Report has a new set of rankings out. This time it's hospitals. And Old Main couldn't be prouder. It's on the list.

Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital is listed in U.S. News & World Report's 2008 edition of America’s Best Children’s Hospitals, published online at http://www.usnews.com/pediatrics and in the magazine's June 9 issue, on newsstands Monday, June 2.

In a further extension of the 2007 pediatric rankings that listed the top 30 pediatric centers overall, the 2008 America’s Best Children’s Hospitals now includes the 30-top ranked hospitals in cancer, digestive disorders, heart and heart surgery, neonatal care, neurology and neurosurgery, respiratory disorders and general pediatrics.

Where exactly is it on the list? The Penn State Propaganda Portal (PSPP) fails to tell us. That can't be good news for the propagandist in Old Main.

.... and it isn't.

Penn State made the cut on the respiratory disorders and general pediatrics list at number thirty out of 50 hospitals ranked by USNWR. That would put it in the fortieth percentile. No wonder there was no mention of where it placed.

Here's some information which the PSPP didn't see fit to mention. Penn State was out performed by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC both of which made the list in every category. In fact, the Philly hospital was ranked number one in all but three categories. In two of those it ranked number two and in the third it ranked three. The Pittsburgh Hospital rankings are 10, 24,6,16, 22, 10, 6.

Now let's see if the Centre Daily Times uncritically reprints the press release.



Technorati Tags: Penn State, Hershey, US News and World Report, Hospital Rankings, spin